The Four New Clans
by Shiner Shining Bright
Summary: ShadowClan might have been freed from Sol's curse, but not the other Clans. WindClan, ThunderClan, and RiverClan have scattered. Now it's up to Riverclaw, a Clan of Mountains tom, Aurorapaw, apprentice medicine cat, and Echo, a tribe cat to bring them bac
1. Prologue: Echo the caveguard

**And now for the moment you've been wating for: Your characters manipulated and tortured in a way that suits me. Seriously, I won't do that to your characters, but If I abuse your characters, sorry, but I gotta get a story out. **

"Echo who copies your voice, do you promise to protect and defend your Tribe, even at the cost of your life?" Stoneteller mewed.

"I promise." Echo answered solemnly.

"Then by the powers of the Tribe of Endless Hunting, I give you your full rank as a cave-guard!"

Stoneteller leapt off the Bigrock and padded over to Echo. He rested his nose on Echo's forehead, and Echo licked his shoulder in return. The Tribe of Rushing Water cheered.

The meeting slowly broke up. Sun that climbs the sky, a kit-mother, ushered her kits back into the nursery. Ice that freezes on summit, the leader of the cave-guards, padded over to Echo.

"Greetings, Echo." Ice mewed.

"Hello, Ice." Echo answered.

"You are no longer a to-be." Ice commented.

"No, I am not."

"Good thing. You will be a good cave-guard."

"Thank you!"

"Well I'll leave you to yourself now." Ice mewed before padding off.

Echo sat down and looked around. At the entrance to the cave, there was a large mound of earth. This symbolized that her favorite legend was true. The legend of Feather-tail and Sharptooth.

Once, a long time ago, there had been a large, vicious mountial lion that had preyed on her Tribe, the Tribe of Rushing Water. That horrible creature was called Sharptooth. Sharptooth had terrorized the Tribe for moons without end, without the Tribe of Rushing Water having any hope. One day, the Stoneteller had a sign. Not Echo's Stoneteller, or the Stoneteller before hers, or the one before that one. The sign said that a silver cat would save them from Sharptooth. The tribe was overjoyed. **But who would save them?**

A quarter-moon later, six cats arrived. Well, they didn't exactly _arrive_. They washed up outside the cave. They claimed to be passing through on the way to deliver a message from their warrio ancestors, StarClan. Before then, the Tribe of Rushing Water thought that the Tribe of Endless Hunting had been the only warrior ancestors. The six cats claimed it was urgent, but they agreed to stay a few days, to help an injured Tribemate. Over those few days, a cat called Storm-fur made friends with a Tribe she-cat named Brook where small fish swim.

After their Tribemate got better, the six attempted to leave. _Their _savior, Storm-fur, _leave_? He wasn't even part of the prophect StarClan sent! The Stoneteller wouln't allow it. The other five left, but Storm-fur stayed. Of course, Storm-fur was furious, but what was the fury of one cat compared to the happiness when he defeated Sharptooth?

Sharptooth attacked the next day, and Storm-fur was gone.

All six returned a couple of days later, but their party now incuded Talon of Swooping Eagle, Bird that rides the Wind, and Jagged rock where Heron sits, three of seven cats that were originally sent to kill Sharptooth, and ordered nevr to come back until Sharptooth was dead. They returned because one of the cats, a ginger she-cat, had a plan that would get rid of Sharptooth.

Talon cut his paw sothat he could attract Sharptooth. The ginger she-cat stuffed a rabbit full of nightberries. But when Sharptooth came to the cave, he pushed aside the nightberries and went straight for the cats. But Storm-fur's sister, Feather-tail, had an idea. She leapt onto a loose rock, and it fell. One or the points stuck straight into Sharptooth's heart, and Sharptooth was dead. Sharptooth was dead, but so was Feather-tail. That mound of earth marked her grave.

"Staring at that grave again, eh?" mewed a voice from behind Echo. She turned to see her father, Eagle who nests high. Eagle was a black tom with a white head and honey-yellow paws and muzzle. Echo, herself, was a dark gray she-cat with blue eyes and a white underbelly and face. Echo looked more like her mother, Storm that flashes lightning.

"The story of Feather-tail and Sharptooth is a great legend." Echo replied softly.

"True enough." Eagle answered gruffly before padding off to go share food with Storm that flashes lightining.

**Finally, I'm done! Now I can go eat. Okay, just to say, your characters come later. This is only the prologue. Don't worry, Apprentice Writer.**


	2. An Echo in the Mountains

**Atabistar is so sorry she has kept the few of you waiting. Tee hee, people are starting to treat this fic like a oneshot. Atabistar says that she will try to finish this story by the beginning of February so that she can get to writing about Coldpaw and Hopepaw. Wish her luck! **

Dragonrain glanced around the MountainClowder[1] camp. Crystalpaw and Summitpaw were scuffling next to the apprentice's den. Icewhisker, Birdfeather, and Lionclaw were headed out on an outlook. Aurorapaw, the apprentice medicine cat, had disappeared into the medicine cave. Meanwhile Snowstar sat by his cave, sharing tongues with his mate, Rockstorm. At that precise moment, Snowstar called Dragonrain over.

"Hello, Dragonrain. Did the morning outlook find anything?" Snowstar inquired.

"Sadly, yes. There was a wolf roaming the territory." Dragonrain answered. "But with some cunning, Riverpaw and Crystalpaw chased it off."

"A wolf?" Rockstorm asked incredulously.

_Snowstar must be proud!_ Dragonrain thought. After all, wolves were hard to chase off, and Crystalpaw and Riverpaw _were _Snowstar's kits.

"Yes, a wolf. This just strengthens my conviction that their assessment should be very soon, as Silverfur and I had been discussing." Dragonrain meowed.

"Well, then. Give them their assessment ...now." Snowstar ordered.

"Of course," Dragonrain, purred.

Dragonrain padded over to Crystalpaw. When the apprentice noticed the deputy coming toward her, she sprang off of Summitpaw, who gave a relieved sigh. Summitpaw was a new apprentice, only seven moon-cycles old. So he would obviously lose to Crystalpaw, due to the fact that his opponent was five moon-cycles older than him.

"Crystalpaw, where is your brother?" Dragonrain asked the apprentice.

"Riverpaw's by the brook, trying to convince the Clowder that fish are edible. What do you need?" Crystalpaw wondered.

"Fetch him and I'll tell you." Dragonrain answered.

But their exchange was stopped by the alarm call that came from the lookout slab.

"Snowstar, there's a Tribe cat on our territory!" Moonspirit called.

Icewhisker entered the camp, dragging along a dark gray she-cat with white paws, closely followed by the other members of the outlook. Snowstar leapt up.

"Who are you and why have you entered our Clowder?" Snowstar hissed.

"My name is Echo Who Copies Your Voice. I am from the Tribe of Rushing Water, but now I am no longer a Tribe cat."

"This is not your Clowder! What do you expect us to do?" Snowstar asked.

"This is a cat from the Tribe. We are not obligated to do anything!" Dragonrain reminded her leader.

"Ah, but this Tribe cat has seen our camp. Who knows _what _she could do with the information?" Snowstar replied.

"So what do we do with her?" Rockstorm wondered.

"You _can't_ send me back to the Tribe, if that's what you're thinking."

"Why?" Snowstar inquired.

"Because I am no longer a Tribe cat. I was sent away." Echo declared.

"So what do we do with her?" Dragonrain asked for the thousandth time.

"We will keep her a prisoner. And even if she hasn't been banished, the Tribe still couldn't fight for her. It didn't work last time, all those moon-cycles ago, in the time of our ancestors, why would it work now?" Snowstar answered.

Dragonrain had heard of the last time MountainClowder fought the Tribe of Rushing Water. Some called it the battle of the Outcast. MountainClowder had been only a band of rogues who had taken over Tribe territory. All of a sudden, these foreign cats come in and beat MountainClowder.

Dragonrain remembered how Riverpaw would pester her for information on the last time the Tribe fought MountainClowder. That was even before Stormfur renamed them MountainClowder, back when the great Stormfur was their leader! Now he walked with StarryClowder, MountainClowder's warrior ancestors.

The commotion soon ended and the cats went back to doing whatever they were previously doing.

Riverpaw's POV

-----------------

Almost, almost, perfect! Not a moment too soon, Riverpaw's paw darted out to touch the surface of the water and to grasp the fish beneath. He flung it into the air, swatted it with his claws and killed it quickly.

Riverpaw never understood why some cats, Crystalpaw for one, treated fish as if it carried a terrible plague. Whatever any cat told Riverpaw, he would be determined to fish at the brook. Well, any cat except for Whisperpaw. Her beauty was stunning, her personality was inviting, and Riverpaw would do anything she asked. Maybe even not fishing at the brook. Maybe. However, if Crystalpaw asked him, he would completely ignore her. Crystalpaw was as big an egotist as any cat could find. His mother, Rockstorm, would suggest that Crystalpaw was named for beauty, but Riverpaw's reply was that it only showed how self-centered she was.

Speaking of the devil...

"River_paw_!" Crystalpaw called.

"What!"

"Dragonrain wants you back at the cave!"

"What for?"

"She said she'd only tell us if we came!"

"Fine..." Riverpaw grumbled.

Riverpaw entered the camp to see small commotion by the back of the cave. When it cleared, he could see a dark gray she-cat, a foreign cat.

"Come on, Riverpaw, Crystalpaw. Follow me." Dragonrain ordered the two siblings.

**Sorry I couldn't finish. I'm writing this after school in the school media center and I have to get home.**

**[1] For those of you who aren't on top of your cat-related terminology, a clowder is the formal term for a group of cats. And here I thought a group of cats might be something more like a herd. :-)**


	3. Hunting

**Atabistar has not been too on top of things with this story. Riverpaw hasn't even gotten his **_**name **_**yet! It was just that Atabistar just found her manuscript! Also, if anyone who hasn't submitted a character wants to complain about the names she uses, please do not. Atabistar didn't come up with the characters.**

Dragonrain led the two siblings to tree-rock.

"Silverfur and I have agreed that you two deserve to be warriors, so your warrior assessment is now. Riverpaw, you hunt near the lake outlook. Crystalpaw, hunt by the river. Catch as much prey as you can and meet me back by the cave entrance at sunsink."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

[Riverpaw's POV]

Riverpaw had never been to the lake outlook. The lake outlook was an area at the edge of MountainClowder's territory. It was a large rock that looked out to a lake. No cat ever went there because of some old legend about the Tribe. The Tribe had almost been taken over by MountainClowder, when nine cats from the lake came to the Tribe and helped the Tribe fight MountainClowder, and the Tribe won. Fortunately, the lake cats left right after the battle, and MountainClowder could take over once more. No cat ever visited the Lake Outlook because of the memorial of where these lake cats came from, the lake.

With that, Riverpaw started hunting.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

[Echo's POV]

Echo was in a strange, yet familiar place. She looked around. There were cats bustling around the cave. Echo could identify a large white cat, issuing orders to other cats. This must be their healer. But wait! There was another pair of cats, healing one cat that had been injured. _How could a group of cats have a leader _and _a healer?_ Echo asked herself. Then Echo considered something else. Their names were bunched up together. For example, there were the names Dragonrain, Icewhisker, Snowstar, and Riverpaw. Those were exactly the names that the cats in the legends had! Although those cats had names like Brambleclaw, Stormfur, Squirrelpaw, and Firestar. Echo wondered why that was. She would ask the cat called Aurorapaw when he came back.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

[Dragonrain's POV]

It was almost sunsink. Dragonrain waited for the two apprentices at the entrance to the cave.

At last, she heard the familiar sound of claws scraping on rock. Sure enough, Crystalpaw was coming to wait with Dragonrain.

After a while, Riverpaw still hadn't shown up, so Crystalpaw decided to voice her suspicions.

"I think he fell into the river!"

"Oh, don't be silly, he's obsessed with that river, he's bound to have taught himself to swim!" Dragonrain replied. As if fate agreed with Dragonrain, claws scraped against the rock of the outlook stone that marked the entrance to the cave. Sure enough, a gray head could be seen, poking his head up to look around him. Riverpaw had returned.

"Am I late?" Riverpaw asked with his mouth full.

Dragonrain shook her head slightly and sighed. Riverpaw was nothing like his father, Snowstar, who had been her loyal friend for all this time.

"You are late, Riverpaw. What have you show for your fashionable and utter lateness?" Dragonrain inquired.

Riverpaw dove down to grab a large chunk of something that Dragonrain didn't recognize until Riverpaw hauled it up the slope. The only thing Riverpaw was good for was _fish_.

Crystalpaw's eyes stretched wide. "You brought back fish. You actually brought back the slimiest, sickest animal living in the mountains, and you expect to pass your assessment with this _wolf dung!_" Crystalpaw exclaimed.

Dragonrain stepped forward. "Crystalpaw's right. You can't expect to pass your assessment if you haven't brought back MountainClowder's actual source of prey, birds."

Riverpaw's face turned red in anger. "Follow me." he mewed simply, padding in the direction of the lake outlook.

Dragonrain was surprised. Riverpaw had led her and Crystalpaw to a large pile of birds. This was probably going to pass the assessment. With that, Dragonrain led the two apprentices back to camp.


End file.
